Who Shall Take the Road? Revised Version
by pmochizuki
Summary: Revised Version 1 of WDTDT? Series: Ever wonder why it was not Glorfindel who brought Frodo to Rivendell on Asfaloth? Here's a 'humorous' reason of what 'might' have happened. Featuring Glorfindel, Erestor, Arwen and Elrond.
1. Who Shall Take the Road

**_Who Shall Take the Road?_**

****

**_By pmochizuki_**

**Author's Note:** This is a story I wrote seven months ago but was written in script form. Recently, has made it clear that both chat forms _and_ script forms are not allowed any more on their site. Since I do not want to get my account frozen as fanfiction tends to do a lot, I deleted the story, wrote a revised version, and am now posting it on again.

For those who have read the previous version, just to tell you that it is basically the same though I changed a few places and added in some new parts.

**Summary:** When Elrond sends Glorfindel to search for Aragorn and the hobbits, he never dreams that his daughter would wish to take the mission!

Well, here it goes!

**_"Who Shall Take the Road?"_**

****

Elrond waits impatiently at his desk as Erestor sits in a chair, fiddling with the arm rests. While Elrond reeks with barely restrained agitation, Erestor acts as if nothing could phase his relaxation of being able to sit down quietly without the Lord Elrond ordering him around. Being the chief counselor of Elrond's household was usually so hectic. For once Elrond was being extremely quiet…

Finally Elrond hits his hand on the desk. "All right, where is he?" he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Erestor.

Erestor withholds a sigh. And it was just becoming quite peaceful… "That must have hurt."

Pausing in confusion, Elronds blinks. "Excuse me?"

Talking in slow, careful words so that Elrond can understand him, Erestor explains. "Hitting your hand on the desk. I said 'that must have hurt.'"

Elrond suddenly gasps and looks at his hand with worry, tentatively poking the tips of his fingers. "Do you think the redness will fade..." He suddenly looks up at Erestor with a shocked expression on his face. "You interrupted!"

"Sorry." Erestor doesn't seem sorry in the slightest.

" As I was TRYING to say, where in all of Rivendell is Glorfindel!"

The door opens and a blonde regal looking Elf stumbles in with an embarrassed look on his face. He goes to stand before Elrond and Erestor.

"So sorry I'm late," Glorfindel says, for this blonde, regal looking Elf was obviously Glorfindel, "it was just that..."

Elrond waves his hand in an irritated manner. "No excuses. Let's get down to business. You know why you were called?"

Glorfindel bites his lips. "Well..." He pauses looking up at the ceiling. He opens his mouth to speak than shuts it again. "Maybe..." He stops again. He tries to speak once more but is interrupted by Erestor.

"Lord Elrond, this will take forever!" Erestor growls. "May I please just tell him?"

Looking as regal as an Elf can under irritating circumstances, Elrond nods for him to proceed.

Erestor snaps his head in Glorfindel, causing the blonde warrior Elf to jump in surprise. "Ok, here's the situation, Glorfindel. We got some news from some of our kindred who were journeying near the Baranduin and they told us that some things are amiss. The Nine Riders..."

Glorfindel gasps. "Not… not… not THE Nine Riders?"

Erestor nods gravely while wondering if it was worth it even trying to explain it to the blonde Elf. "That's right."

Glorfindel's eyes widens. "Whoah!"

"Anyway, as I was TRYING to say, we were also told that a hobbit is traveling with a few others, and he carries with him the One Ring."

Glorfindel gasps again. "Not THE One Ring!"

Rolling his eyes, Erestor mimics Glorfindel. "Yes, THE One Ring!" He continues his explanations in a serious tone. "Now quit interrupting. They are not much of us who can ride openly against the Nine, but such as it is, Lord Elrond is sending some Elves out north, west, and south. Whatever happens, the Ring MUST get here safely."

" Riiiiight." Glorfindel looks up at the ceiling for a second. "So... I'm one of those Elves you're sending out, right?"

Seeing the way Glorfindel was acting extremely pleased with himself for figuring it out, Erestor mumbles to himself sarcastically, "Genius, pure genius."

Elrond shoots Erestor a warning glance, signaling the other Elf to keep his opinions to himself. "I had wished to wait until you had come, but since you were delayed, we had to go ahead and draw lots. And here's yours."

Elrond picks up a very short piece.

The blonde Elf groans and closes his eyes for a moment. "Don't tell me I got the shortest stick!" he whines.

The chief counselor, who had secretly rigged the whole drawing of lots, grins evilly. "Oh, yes indeed you did!"

As Glorfindel tries not be affected by Erestor, Elrond gives Glorfindel his instructions. "You are to take the Road, and go to the Bridge of Mitheithel."

Glorfindel gasps as Erestor laughs uncontrollably. Glorfindel stutters as he always does when he's nervous. "You, you can't be, be... serious?"

"Oh, VERY serious." Erestor tries to act serious but fails ultimately as he wiggles his eyebrows.

Sighing, Glorfindel raises his hands in defeat. "All right, if I must, I must." He glares at Erestor. "I don't understand why you're looking so pleased."

Erestor allows himself a smile of victory. "Because I'M not the one taking the Road to face Nine Riders."

The curtains in the room suddenly move and the three Elves hear a shuffling of feet. Elrond, looking extremely puzzled, walks over to the curtain and moving it aside, reveals a red-faced Arwen.

Elrond, being very surprised, gasps. "Arwen, what are you doing here? I cannot believe you are eavesdropping on your own father!"

Rolling his eyes at the situation, Erestor lays a comforting hand on Elrond. "Come on, Elrond, you should have expected her to be a little rebellious after hooking up with that Ranger guy."

Arwen pouts her pretty lips in an indignant manner. "Aragorn is no mere Ranger! He is..."

"Heir of Isildur, son of Arathorn, Chieftain of the Dunedain, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." Elrond finished for her. "Yes dear, we know. That does not answer the question to what you are doing here."

The beautiful she-Elf takes a deep breath and all around her cringe as they can tell that whatever she was going to say would be very shocking.

"I want to be the one to take the Road."

As her statement is very shocking indeed, Elrond turns beet red as Glorfindel looks dumbfounded and Erestor just shakes his head. "I knew she would say that, I just knew it..." Erestor mumbles to himself.

"You can't Arwen," Glorfindel says with an elegant stamp of his elegant foot. "The task is already mine!"

"But you didn't want to take the mission in the first place!"

"Well..." Glorfindel sputters for a few seconds then announces proudly, "Your father is the one who commanded me to do it so I cannot disobey."

Both Arwen and Glorfindel fix their eyes upon the Lord of Rivendell. Elrond looking terribly uncomfortable stands very still for a long moment. Suddenly he raises his hand in exasperation.

"I will have no part in this decision!" Elrond points a finger at Erestor. "Erestor, you take care of this."

Erestor looks at the Lord of Rivendell in horror.

"You can't put this one on me, my Lord!:

Moving towards the door, Elrond smirks. "Oh, yes I can. Besides, you ARE my chief, so you are most adept to handle this kind of situation."

Elrond escapes out the door and silence fills the room. Erestor turns first to look at Glorfindel who is looking at him with harsh glare. Arwen on the other hand is looking at Erestor with a sweet expression on her face.

"Dear Erestor," Arwen coos softly. "You know how much you love me…"

"Ha!"

Seeing as that tactic wasn't going to work, Arwen tries a different tactic. "Well, you know how much of a better rider I am..."

"Ha!" Glorfindel sniffs the air huffily.

" ...and I will be very responsible with the mission," Arwen finishes as if not interrupted at all.

Erestor snorts. "Yeah, the only reason you want to go is because your beloved Aragorn travels with the hobbits."

Arwen blushes with embarrassment as Glorfindel starts laughing.

"I KNEW you had an ulterior motive!" the blonde Elf announces triumphantly.

"That's not true! I wish to help in..."

Erestor interrupts her with a flick of his hand. "Well, WHATEVER your reasons are, we must all agree that Glorfindel's horse, Asfaloth is the fastest of all."

All three Elves become silent. They look at the one then the other, then at the exact same time, their eyes lighten up.

Grinning uncontrollably, Erestor says, "May the best Elf, or Elf-Maiden, win."

Arwen and Glorfindel look at each other and a split second later, the two start running for the door. Glorfindel, being the taller Elf, reaches it first and is the first to go down the hall leading to the stables.

Glorfindel calls over his shoulder, wrinkling his nose at Arwen, "You will never reach Asfaloth before me!"

"Oh yeah!" Arwen suddenly yells in a very loud voice. "THERE GOES GLORFINDEL, THE BALROG SLAYER!"

Suddenly, Elf-maidens come streaming out from different corridors and they all shriek in excitement as they see Glorfindel, all of them talking at once.

"There he goes!"

"After him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

Before long, Glorfindel is cut off by all the Elf-maidens and is forced to plaster a smile on and nod to the Elf-maidens in greeting. Arwen giggles as she rushes by.

"See you when I get back, Glorfindel!" she taunts.

Growling through clenched teeth, Glorfindel tries to get away from the Elf-maidens to no avail. What can you do against dozens of very determined she-Elves? "You'll pay for this, Arwen!"

A few minutes later, Glorfindel is rid of the Elf-maidens and runs to the stables.

Glorfindel begins talking to himself, reassuring himself that he couldn't have lost. "It doesn't matter anyway. Asfaloth will not let any rider ride him unless it is I who command him to bear the person. Arwen will not get four feet before my horse will unseat her." He smiles wickedly to himself. "Take that, Elf-maiden!"

Hearing the clippety-clop of a horse's hooves, Glorfindel turns to see Arwen cantering Asfaloth towards him. His jaw drops and Arwen executes a swift halt before the blonde Elf.

Arwen smiles sweetly down at him. "You won't believe how much Asfaloth LOVES honeycakes."

Glorfindel's watches in horror as Arwen winks then with a light touch of her heels, rides away like the wind astride his horse. Glorfindel hears chuckling behind him and turns to see that it is Erestor.

" Never underestimate an Elf-maiden, Glorfindel," Erestor whispers confidentially. "And another thing, never compete with them either. It's not worth it."

Glorfindel sighs unhappily. "I guess you're right."

Erestor puts his arm around the blond Elf's shoulders. "Come with me to the library, we can have a glass of wine and talk of troublesome Elf-maidens."

Glorfindel perks up. "That's a fine..."

"Or…" Erestor continues with a wicked grin, "we can go to the dining hall and I can yell, "Here's the Balrog slayer'...!"

Glorfindel clamps a hand over Erestor's mouth, glaring down at the chief counselor. "You wouldn't dare!"

Prying Glorfindel's hand off his mouth, Erestor says slyly, "Or would I..."

_To be continued in epilogue…_

**Author's Note: **I will be posting the epilogue very soon, not to fear! Please tell me in a review what you think!


	2. Who Shall Take the Road Epilogue

**_Who Shall Take the Road?_**

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**_By pmochizuki_**

**Author's Note:** I hadn't thought of writing an Epilogue but when reviewer IrethAncalime3791 told me that I should, I decided that hey, that's a good idea! So thanks so much for the idea!

Here is the revised version of "Who Shall Take the Road"'s epilogue.

**Summary:** When Elrond sends Glorfindel to search for Aragorn and the hobbits, he never dreams that his daughter would wish to take the mission!

****

**_"Who Shall Take the Road?" Epilogue_**

Absolutely beat, Elrond sits at his desk with his forehead resting on the desk. Erestor and Arwen enter the room yet Elrond does not budge.

The two Elves who entered looked at each other with worry. Arwen was the first to speak, albeit hesitantly. "Ada? Are you well?"

Elrond doesn't speak for a few moments then answers in a tired voice. "How can I be well? I ask you to bring me the Ringbearer here safe and sound and what happens?" He finally picks his head off from the desk, a red mark on his forehead. "I spend almost three whole days keeping him from becoming one of those Ringwraiths, and all because of an insignificantly small splinter! Imagine, dying because of a SPLINTER! My reputation would have been ruined!"

Erestor grimaces as Elrond yells. "Well, Frodo is such a little guy. Everyone would have understood completely if he couldn't handle the infection."

Pouting like a child, Elrond crosses his arms over his chest. "But I DID save his life! But only barely, only barely! That little weakling of a hobbit, dying because of a SPLINTER!"

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Erestor says with a shrug. He then mutters under his breath. "Mortals..."

Arwen sighs dramatically. "Ada, you are always over reacting! He's safe now, isn't he? No problem!"

Erestor speaks up in a bright voice. "She's right Elrond, it's not her fault. This would never have happened unless that Ranger hadn't watched over the hobbit carefully."

The Elf-maiden gasps while Erestor begins snickering, pleased with himself for the snide comment he had made.

"How dare you insult my beloved one!" Arwen pokes a finger at Erestor's chest while the chief counselor of Rivendell sighs in exasperation. "He is Aragorn son of Arathorn, Heir of Isildur..."

Elrond groans in the background, "Here we go again…"

Arwen continues speaking without missing a beat, voice rising with each title, "...Chieftain of the Dunedain, rightful heir of the throne of Gondor, son of Arathorn..."

Cocking his head slightly in confusion, Erestor interrupts, "You said that already."

The Elf-maiden gasps again and pokes Erestor even harder, making the Elf wince since Arwen has pretty sharp fingernails. "How dare you mock me? Do you know who my beloved is?"

"ENOUGH!" Arwen and Erestor freeze as Elrond looks very, very angry. "Back to the matter at hand. And that is," he points a finger at Arwen, "YOU still haven't explained why you were the one to take the Road!"

Smiling sweetly, Arwen points a finger to Erestor who is shifting weight nervously. Elrond stands up just as the door opens and Glorfindel arrives out of breath.

"So sorry I'm late! It's just that..."

Elrond and Arwen look at each disgustedly while Erestor moans and smacks his hand against his head, all three forgetting at the moment what they had been discussing.

"Where have I heard this before?" Erestor cries out to the heavens.

"Ada, I beg you please," Arwen whines, "don't give him a chance to talk!"

Elrond nods very seriously. "You're right." He looks at Glorfindel. "We were just trying to clarify why it was my daughter who was the one to take the Road to save..."

"Save, ha!"

The Lord of Rivendell glares at Erestor for interrupting yet continues, "...the Ringbearer from almost certain death."

Arwen tries to sooth her father.

"Remember, it was you who saved Frodo's life!"

Beaming proudly at Arwen's words, Elrond says, "You're absolutely right, it was I who did..." He stops, his face changing expression to one of irritation. "No more sidetracking..."

Glorfindel stamps the floor with his foot. "I have no idea what's going on!"

Erestor pats Glorfindel on the shoulder pityingly. "Do you ever?"

Elrond growls in frustration as Arwen giggles and Glorfindel shakes off Erestor's hand with a snarl.

"Erestor, I had told you to take care of the situation! You cannot let Arwen do whatever she wants, she is not a spoiled child anymore!" Elrond gives Arwen a pointed look while the she-Elf pretends to smooth her skirts down.

"You're right, she's not a spoiled child anymore." Erestor looks serious for just a split second before smiling. "She's a spoiled Elf-maiden now! And all because of that Aragorn..."

"There you go belittling my beloved again!"

"SILENCE!" Once more, everyone in the room freezes at Elrond's outburst. "We shall not speak of that Ranger anymore. Erestor, you still haven't given me your explanation."

"Explanation for what?" Glorfindel asks Arwen in a whisper.****

Trying to make sure blame doesn't get put on him for what was definitely NOT his fault, Erestor says to Elrond meekly, "I said whoever could get to Asfaloth first could take the mission."

There is silence for a few moments as Elrond has become stone faced. He suddenly whips his head around to face Arwen and the Elf-maiden cringes slightly. Just as suddenly, Elrond takes on a puzzled look.

"How in the world did you manage to ride Asfaloth? He only listens to Glorfindel."

Sighing in relief realizing that she's not in trouble, Arwen answers sweetly, "Honeycakes my dear father!"

"That's it?" Elrond plays with a strand of his long, dark hair. "Wow, I've been trying so hard to figure out how I can get to ride that magnificent beast. Does he take honeycakes just plain?"

"Well, he does prefer the honeycakes with some oats, not too much or it takes away the honey flavor..."

Glorfindel, finally getting over his surprise at Arwen's confession about Asfaloth's passion, takes on a bewildered look. "Hey, this is MY horse we're talking about! No one rides him except for me!"

"And me!" Arwen announces proudly.

Erestor jumps in, a smile on his face. "Now that I know the recipe, I believe I'll have a go at it!"

"That's not fair!" Glorfindel's looks at Arwen then at Erestor. Seeing as they didn't seem to care in the slightest at his protests, he tries to complain to Elrond. "Lord Elrond, you can't let them…"

He pauses, for in the meantime, Elrond has called in a servant and begins whispering instructions.

"Hurry and get some honeycakes from the kitchen, leave them in the stables for me to find later. And only the ones with some oats in it!"

Servant nods and leaves quickly.

Glorfindel, who though has Elf ears, couldn't catch anything which Elrond had said to the servant. He gives Elrond a suspicious look. "What's going on?"

Elrond, trying to look very innocent, answer offhand, "Why, nothing of course! Well, I must be going now. I need a breath of fresh air.:

The Lord of Rivendell disappears out the door of the office, leaving the three Elves alone. Glorfindel finds an empty chair and sits in it with his head in his hands.

"Want to bet that by the time I get to the stables, Asfaloth won't bet there?"

Erestor's eyes widen in surprise. "Amazing, Glorfindel just figured that out himself!"

Arwen nudges Erestor in the ribs with her elbow and gives him a sharp look. She walks over to place a hand on Glorfindel's shoulder. Instead of feeling comforted, Glorfindel looks up sharply to glare at Arwen.

"You know," Glorfindel remarks coldly, "this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't told your father about the honeycakes..."

Glorfindel stands up slowly as Arwen starts backing away looking flustered.

"Ummm... take it easy...."

Glorfindel grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her. "TAKE IT EASY?! You're telling ME to TAKE IT EASY?!"

Arwen gets out of his grasp and they begin circling around the desk, Glorfindel looking very dangerous indeed.

Laughing nervously, Arwen tries to calm the other angry Elf down. "Haven't we been friends for years? Huh, Glorfindel dear?"

"Save it for your Ranger guy."

Erestor snickers which Arwen hears. She suddenly smiles at Glorfindel who is still trying to corner her.

"Dear Glorfindel," she says with a meaningful look for which Glorfindel doesn't become affected at all. "Who was in charge to make the decision for who would take Asfaloth?"

Glorfindel suddenly stops circling the desk towards Arwen, a puzzled expression on his face. "Ummm.... huh?"

Arwen rolls her eyes but quickly hides it. "It was Erestor! Erestor, right?"

Glorfindel furrows his eyebrows thinking hard. "Yeah..."

Looking slightly worried by the sudden change of events, Erestor says to himself, "I'm having a bad feeling about this..."

Still smiling sweetly, Arwen tries to encourage Glorfindel to continue. As he is still looking at her cluelessly, she helps him along. "Sooooo... technically it's all Erestor's fault, right?"

He finally gets it and brightens up. "Definitely."

Arwen and Glorfindel look at Erestor who is trying to make his way towards the door.

Erestor laughs nervously. "Listen, it's all over and done with. Let's just get over this quietly and calmly..."

Arwen and Glorfindel look at each and they both say together, "Riiiiiiight..."

Moments later, a frightened cry is heard all over Rivendell...

Later on, we see Erestor sitting glumly at the dining hall of Rivendell. His left hand is for some strange reason hidden underneath the table in front so that he is sitting uncomfortably close to the table. Swarms of Elf-maiden fawn all around him. Erestor tries smiling politely but utterly fails, looking most dejected. Snippets of conversations can be heard of the Elf-maidens surrounding the poor Elf.

"We were so at luck to find Erestor here in the dining hall!" One Elf-maiden says with placing a hand on Erestor's shoulder.

Another Elf-maiden bats her eyelashes at Erestor who reacts by wincing slightly. "It's so wonderful to be graced with his presence!"

"He IS the most eligible bachelor in all of Rivendell, besides the glorious hunk of a blonde, Glorfindel!" Thinking of the blond Elf warrior, another she-Elf sighs.

"But he's not here," the first Elf-maiden remarks. "So let's concentrate on sweet Erestor here." Saying such, she squeezed Erestor's shoulder.

At her words, Erestor looks like he is about to gag but hides his expression by taking a sip of wine.

Hidden behind the great stone pillars of the dining hall, we see Glorfindel and Arwen trying to contain their laughter.

"Would you look at Erestor's expression? Ha ha!" Arwen stops a moment to let her giggles take over. "He looks like he's going to throw up!"

Glorfindel mimics an Elf-maiden, clasping his hands in front of him. "Oooh, sweeet Erestor!"

Still sniggering, the two Elves leave the halls of Rivendell to walk in the gardens.

"That certainly was a brilliant idea to tie his hand to the table! Brilliant, Arwen! Brillian!"

Arwen acknowledges the praise with a modest nod of her head. "Indeed, but I do feel sorry for him. Let's free him in about, shall we say, an hour?"

They look at each other, then suddenly start laughing

"Nah!!!!" they both say with another burst of giggles.

After they had calmed down somewhat, Glorfindel says brightly, "Well, I feel in the mood for another good prank. Any ideas?"

Arwen looks slyly up at the tall Elf. "I think I've already done a good prank."

Glorfindel looks down at her suspiciously when they hear the whinny of a horse and someone crying out in alarm, then the sound of someone falling to the ground.

Arwen pretends not to hear anything so instead she says, "Did you know that Asfaloth is just a little bit allergic to oats? He suddenly starts acting like he's got a fly up his nose and gets really antsy. Starts bucking and rearing a bit."

Glorfindel furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "But you told your father..." Finally getting it, he winks at Arwen. "Now I get it. Nasty she-Elf."

Smiling sweetly, Arwen linked arms with Glorfindel. "I hang around my brothers too much. Remember the time when we..."

"Oh, I remember that one! The time you put a sleeping draught into all of the cups at dinner?"

Arwen smirks. "Pranks are my brothers' specialty! Let me tell you about a time when..."

The two Elves walk away arm and arm, never for a moment looking like they had been enemies just a few days ago.

**_THE END_**

**Author's Note:** Sooo, did you guys like it? That's finally the end of "Who Shall Take the Road?" Hope you liked it! Anyway, this is the first of a series of humor/parody vignettes I'm going to be writing. It'll be a serious of stories called the "Why Did They Do That?" series dealing with the Elves of Middle Earth. Did you ever wonder why Arwen went to rescue Frodo instead of Glorfindel? (explained in this story.) Other such confusing and strange events will be explained in my series in very funny ways. If you're excited about reading more, tell me in a review! Or if you have any ideas, share them!

Next "Why Did They Do That" story should be coming out soon. Deals with why the Elf twins, Elrohir and Elladan, and the Rangers of the Dunedain do not go to Aragorn's aid.


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